


See You Yesterday

by Fallynleaf



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canonical Character Death, F/F, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-11
Updated: 2013-07-11
Packaged: 2017-12-18 10:24:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/878627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fallynleaf/pseuds/Fallynleaf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sirius Black and Tara Maclay have a conversation after death.</p>
            </blockquote>





	See You Yesterday

Sirius didn’t know where he was. It seemed to be a long hallway, the walls narrowly there, his footsteps echoing oddly against the ground almost as if his pace was being matched by a dog padding along beside him. Sirius reached out into the clouded air, felt nothing.

Then he stumbled upon a table.

It was round. Arthurian. Ornately carved with knots that twisted endlessly upon themselves, the stone appearing to move along the knotted paths. Sirius pulled out a chair.

“Hello,” someone said. A girl. Light brown hair pushed behind her ears. Grey eyes, like Sirius’s. She was sitting beside him at the table.

Sirius didn’t know where he was.

“Er, hullo?” he said.

“Are you new?”

“Yes? Maybe? I dunno.”

“I don’t blame you. It’s sometimes hard to tell here.” The girl took a breath. “If I close my eyes, I can still feel her arms around me, when we were most happy, before the magic…” she sighed, her voice faltering.

“You don’t have to talk about it if it makes you sad,” Sirius said.

“I’m not sad. I don’t think sadness even exists anymore. There’s no happiness, either. Just… calm.”

“Well, _that’s_ boring!” Sirius scoffed. “It was nice chatting with you,” he said, pushing his chair back. “But I think I’ve had enough with this place.” He poised to stand up, but some part of him was reluctant to leave the chair, his feet grounded.

“What’s your name?” the girl asked.

“Sirius. Sirius Black, sometimes called Padfoot, escaped prisoner, dog, wizard, and once a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Lover of one Remus Lupin, sometimes called Moony, werewolf, also a wizard, and once a fellow student at Hogwarts.”

“I’m Tara Maclay. Witch, Scoobie, resident of Sunnydale. Strong like an Amazon. Lover of one Willow Rosenberg, also a witch, a Scoobie, and a resident of Sunnydale.”

Sirius didn’t know where he was.

“We’re dead, aren’t we?” he said.

“Afraid so.”

“What happens to us next?”

“There isn’t a ‘next.’ Not really. Time isn’t linear here. Sometimes it passes quick, in an instant, simultaneously, all at once. Sometimes it lets us hold a conversation like this for a while, suspended.”

“So it goes on like this… forever?”

“Until we’re born, I think.”

“Reborn?”

“No, born. For the first time.”

“How long will that take?” Sirius tipped his chair back the way he once did to provoke Walburga and McGonagall into yelling at him.

“How long do you want it to take?”

Sirius shrugged. “I’ll find out, I guess.” He turned to stare at Tara. “Oh, and by the way, why are you here, talking to me?”

“You don’t remember?” Tara frowned, but then a smile spilled across her face. “Of course you don’t, not yet. I guess I seem a little silly to you.”

“Nah, I’ve seen worse.”

“Me too, actually.” She laughed. “I’ve _been_ worse.”

A moment passed. Or maybe it was an eternity.

“I can feel the Goddess here, though,” Tara said shutting her eyes. “She’s everywhere around us, like the leaves of a tree overhead and great roots stretching underneath. Willow will feel her, too, when she arrives.”

“When’ll that be?”

“Now, maybe. Or yesterday. I don’t know if she’s ready yet. If I’m ready. Maybe it’s better to wait.”

“Personally, I’m bloody _done_ with waiting.” Sirius said. “Remus better be arriving-“ he heard a sound and his voice cut off as he turned to look over his shoulder, “-soon.”

“Hey, Padfoot,” Remus said quietly. “Fancy meeting you here.”

Remus stood there just as Sirius remembered him best. Before the war, before Azkaban, before the broken lies. He smiled a real smile then, a spot of light between his scars.

“Moony…” Sirius stood up. Behind him, he heard Tara whisper, _“Goodbye Sirius. I’ll see you yesterday.”_ The table vanished, maybe. Sirius was no longer aware of it. He clutched fistfuls of Remus’s clothing, of his hair, taking in the scent and feel of him.

Sirius didn’t know where he was. But he knew who he was, and who the person in his arm was, and he reckoned that was at least a decent start.


End file.
